Affleck's "Argo" brings him best director award

Ben Affleck's awards season winning streak continued over the weekend as the "Argo" star picked up the best directing of a feature film honor at the Directors Guild of America Awards.

He was up against Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln"), Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"), Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty") and Tom Hooper ("Les Misérables.")

"I worked really, really hard to become the best director I could be, by putting in as [many] hours as I can, and banging my head against a wall, berating myself, lying to myself about whether it’s going to work,” Affleck told those gathered at Saturday's ceremony, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Basically, I got to a point where I was nominated for this award. And I don’t think this makes me a real director — but I think it means I’m on my way.”

Affleck, now famously snubbed for an Oscar in the Academy's director category, has picked up the title of best director at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. At the SAGs last month, his film also won the outstanding cast in a motion picture award.

Speaking with CNN after his big DGAs win, Affleck reflected on why he made the shift into directing.

“I ran afoul of the press a little bit, and became overexposed, causing me to question - and maybe I was bring hyperbolic for effect in the speech - but caused me to question, what do I want to do in this industry? Do I have anything to offer? What should I be doing? How can I best express myself?" the 40-year-old actor/director recalled.

"And that was right around the time I took up directing, and I really viewed this as connected to that decision, because that decision was about, 'Can I do it? Can I make it? Can I really direct movies and be a director?' And to be at the DGAs, be honored with an award by the DGA, is definitely more than I ever imagined on that first day of shooting [my directorial feature debut] 'Gone Baby Gone.'"


/CNN/